White House Outlines Steps to Protect Covert Identities

The White House on Wednesday outlined the steps it would take to prevent the disclosure of covert officials’ identities when the president is traveling abroad. The moves are in reaction to the accidental revelation last month of the Central Intelligence Agency’s top spy in Afghanistan.

The steps include informing those who participate in public meetings with the president that their names will be distributed to reporters covering the events and giving them a chance to object, said Josh Earnest, a White House spokesman.

Press officials will also clear the participants’ names with the National Security Council before their release.

In addition, staff members who handle scheduling and the news media for international trips will receive extra training on how to handle such disclosures.

The measures were recommended by the White House counsel, W. Neil Eggleston, who was charged by President Obama’s chief of staff, Denis R. McDonough, with reviewing the Afghanistan episode.

Mr. Eggleston concluded that the disclosure was inadvertent, and on Tuesday night, he briefed Mr. McDonough on his findings.

The name of the C.I.A. station chief in Afghanistan was accidentally disclosed late last month when military officials sent a White House press aide a list of 16 people who were participating in a briefing with Mr. Obama. One of the participants was identified as “chief of station.” That title refers to the highest-ranking C.I.A. officer in a country.

The name was included in a pool report that is distributed by the White House to about 6,000 reporters around the world. The New York Times did not name the C.I.A. officer, at the request of the White House and C.I.A. officials.

The name and title of the station chief were removed in a later pool report that urged reporters to “please use this list” of attendees at the president’s briefing instead of the previous one.

Such disclosures occur rarely, and the names often become public only when they are released by mistake, or in leaks from people opposed to a United States policy or presence in a country.

Last year, a political party opposed to American drone strikes in Pakistan identified a man it described as the C.I.A.’s top spy in that country.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A8 of the New York edition with the headline: White House Outlines Steps to Protect Covert Identities. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe